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Queensland boxing in disarray

TIM PALMER: There are calls for a body to be set up to govern boxing in Queensland, after Friday night's WBA (World Boxing Association) heavyweight title bout in Brisbane between Sonny Bill Williams and the ageing South African Francois Botha, spiralled into controversy.

Sonny Bill Williams won in a unanimous points decision, but that was only part of the story, arguments erupting over the length of the contest and a positive drug test for Botha followed. Queensland and Tasmania are the only states without regulatory bodies overseeing combat sports.

Many boxing fans are outraged, saying if there was such an organisation in Queensland, the fight would have been trouble free.

As Nance Haxton reports.

NANCE HAXTON: It was a somewhat bizarre result that caught many boxing fans by surprise. The Sydney Roosters' star Sonny Bill Williams had the upper hand early in the fight, but Francois Botha fought back in the final rounds.

But the final bell at the end of the 10th round saved Sonny Bill Williams from any late comeback. The bout was billed as a 12 round WBA title fight. Fans booed Williams as he spoke in the ring after his win.

Ciaran Baynes hosts boxing program "Between The Ropes" on ABC Grandstand Digital. He says the way the bout evolved was a disgrace.

CIARAN BAYNES: It was farcical, you have to say that. That would be the description. You know, main event where the whole crowd's come to see 12 rounds and then it stops - you know, even television, television thought it was going to be a 12-round fight, all the media did. The judges thought it was going to be a 12-round fight, and it was only a 10-round fight. It was just such a ludicrous scenario.

As people have said: 'how can you go along to a sporting contest and a football match is only played over 80 minutes or AFL over three-quarters or something like that. It's just crazy. And for boxing to have any credibility with the supporters and sports fans, this kind of thing, you know, it's just shooting itself in the foot.

NANCE HAXTON: After the win Botha said he didn't know the fight had been reduced until the end of the ninth round. Ciaran Baynes says explanations since have only further confused the matter for boxing fans.

CIARAN BAYNES: For people not to know the distance of a fight, a main event fight - I've never heard of it. I've heard in quite a few times if it's a lower ranked fight on the night, because there's usually, say, six or seven boxing fights on a bill. And the fights lower on the card sometimes will get reduced because of say TV scheduling because the main event's got to come on at a certain time. Usually that's the reason. But I've never heard of this.

NANCE HAXTON: Queensland is one of few states without a formal controlling body for combat sports.

Brad Vocale from the world boxing authority says that's affecting the sport's credibility.

BRAD VOCALE: It's about the welfare, the safety and, of course, the image of this particular sport which has been around for a long, long time. And we have now an opportunity to make this thing right and fall in line with the rest of the states and make Queensland a very competitive sporting state, which we already are, but we're lacking that we don't have the regulation that we really need.

NANCE HAXTON: Ciaran Baynes agrees - saying Queensland boxing is gaining a bad reputation because of the lack of a regulatory body. But he says arguments over who will pay for it are hampering the sport.

CIARAN BAYNES: People need to be answerable. And that's the problem, in Queensland they're not answerable to anyone. You know, there can be bad judges or bad referees and they're not answerable to any governing bodies.

It's hard to envisage Campbell Newman's Government putting the money forward for a regulatory body.

NANCE HAXTON: The Queensland Sport and Racing Minister, Steve Dickson, has issued a statement saying he would be happy to examine any proposal for uniform combat sport regulations, however the push for change to the governance code must come from within the sport.

Ciaran Baynes says that's unlikely.

CIARAN BAYNES: It's a fairly depressing scenario because a lot of people think there should be a national governing body so no parts of Australia can be exempt from it, as Queensland is. But you need the money for it, and where does that money come from? And that's the issue.

There isn't any, there's no drug testing or anything like that. It just crosses over so much. And this is only a little part of the problem.

NANCE HAXTON: This has brought it all to a head by the sound of it though?